SOUNDTRACK: DAVID BYRNE AND BRIAN ENO-My LIfe in the Bush of Ghosts [Remix website] (1981, 2006).

I’m stealing the bulk of these comments from a Pitchfork review of the album reissue because I have never actually listened to this album which I’ve known about for decades.

When Eno and Byrne released My Life in 1981 it seemed like a quirky side project. But now, Nonesuch has repackaged it as a near-masterpiece, a milestone of sampled music, and a peace summit in the continual West-meets-rest struggle. So we’re supposed to see Bush of Ghosts as a tick on the timeline of important transgressive records. Nonesuch made an interesting move that could help Bush of Ghosts make history all over again: they launched a “remix” website, at www.bush-of-ghosts.com, where any of us can download multitracked versions of two songs, load them up in the editor of our choice, and under a Creative Commons license, do whatever we want with them.

The only thing is, at the time this review was written, the site was not up yet. And as I write this in 2019, there’s nothing on the site except for a post from 2014 about Virgin Media and Sky TV. Alas.

[READ: May 1, 2019] “The Ecstasy of Influence”

Back in the day I was a vocal proponent of free speech. It was my Cause and I was very Concerned about it.

It’s now some thirty years later and I don’t really have a Cause anymore. It’s not that I care less about free speech, but I do care less about the Idea of free speech.

Had I read this article in the 1990s, I would have framed it. Right now I’m just very glad that people are still keeping the torch alive.

Lethem begins this essay about plagiarism by discussing a novel in which a travelling salesman is blown away by the beauty of a preteen girl named Lolita That story, Lolita, was written in 1916 by Heinz von Lichberg. Lichberg later became a journalist for the Nazis and his fiction faded into history. But Vladimir Nabokov lived in Berlin until 1937. Was this unconscious borrowing or was it “higher cribbing.”

The original is evidently not very good and none of the admirable parts of Nabokov’s story are present in the original.

Or Bob Dylan. He appropriated lines in many of his songs. He borrowed liberally from films, paintings and books. Perhaps that is why Dylan has never refused a request for a sample. (more…)

For the longest time, I thought that these last four shows of 2017 would be the final live shows on the Rheostatics Live website. But then mid-September, Darrin added more than 20 historical shows to the site. So, there will be some older shows posted about in the new year. But for now, while the Rheostatics are recording their next album (!), it’s fun to look back on shows from just one year ago.

First of three shows for the Horseshoe Tavern’s 70th anniversary celebrations. Kindly recorded and provided by Mark Sloggett and Matt Kositsky.

The opening band for this night was Ensign Broderick.

The show opens with “Saskatchewan,” it’s got a two-minute quiet guitar intro before the song proper starts. It’s a very quiet and chill rendition, with Martin almost whispering. It’s not until about 10 minutes that the song comes roaring out.

Starting “Supercontroller” is Hugh Marsh with a cool violin solo–a trippy echoing section. “Supercontroller” is so simple but I really like it, it’s so very catchy. It shifts to “AC/DC on My Stereo” which is just too simple for my tastes (homage to AC/DC?). The Clark section is weirdly flat–maybe the sound balance is off? There’s lots of Hugh and the a crazy sloppy ending.

People shout out requests and then someone says, “You can’t touch the Rheostatics.” To which Bidini responds, “Literally, it’s in our contract—no touching.” Clark chimes in, “That’s why we never did a double bill with The Feelies.” [groans] Clark: “Teacher humor…. I am older you know.”

Tim plays acoustic guitar for a lovely “Rear View,” a pretty acoustic number with a nice beat. Then DB thanks everyone for coming out on a Thursday night.

Clark asks if a pickerel is a small pike. Martin gets really into the discussion. How a walleye is called pickerel. And that pike is bony, although many species of pike are pickerel they are not related to walleye. DB: “That concludes our PowerPoint presentation.” The Clark continues to talk about making rainbow trout in avocado and olive oil, with all the free radicals.

Back to the music, it’s great to hear “The Headless One,” (apparently a Martin request). There’s some great violin from Hugh and great backing vocals from Martin. It’s followed by “Michael Jackson” with nice pizzicato strings and a big, soaring ending that totally kills.

Clark says he heard Martin say to DB: “Stop being a rock n roll grandstander.” And DB said, “I was being a rock n roll grandpa.” To which Martin coined, “grandstand grandpa.”

“Mountains and Sea” is a new song featuring Hugh Marsh. Martins guitar is a little too loud, then about halfway in, they mess up. DB: “Let’s do that again. Band meeting. I can’t remember that chord.” Live rehearsals… this is extra! Martin says something about their old live rehearsals at the Rivoli and Martin thought they were jam-packed and he saw a video and found that there were like 14 people there (it’s a video of Martin spanking Dave C on the ass with his guitar for messing up). Tim: I told you we were gonna fuck it up.

Clark offers a vote: it’s rare in any society that your voice gets heard. Should they do it from the top of the song or from the A minor part. [A minor wins].

Clark’s neighbor made the Guinness book of world records for making the worlds smallest playable violin. And Martin says he really like the name “Tim Gillette.”

Up next is Tim’s “Music is the Message” a slow but pretty song with lots of violin. It’s followed by “Sickening Song, which sounds great with just accordion.

“Sickening Song” sounded good with just accordion and guitar but then it gets pretty wobbly and they have to stop. But they get through it happily. Martin talks about looking for an operetta that he and Tom wrote called “These are things I cannot tell my dad.” I thought I found it in my parents house, but it turned out to be us working on “Sickening Song,” playing it 20 times. Tim: “I think your dad erased that tape.”

PIN sounds good but “they’ll never get the ending.” That’s why you play three nights because the first night’s always shit. They start talking about cursing on TV and how you can hear someone say Shit on CBC at 8PM. Martin jokes that at 8 o’ clock “that’s bullsandwiches” and then you hit 9 and it’s “motherfucker.”

DB: If you came from out of town thank you. If you’re not from out of town that’s fine too. Just not quite as awesome. And thanks for a youthful-looking crowd. That’s amazing. Lots of lovely sweaters. Sir you have a Tea Party shirt you have to stand at least ten feet back from me. I’m kidding as long as you’re not wearing leather pants. Clark: I thought he was talking tea party political shit.

Martin begins, “Remember….”
DB: “No not really.”
Clark: “Take us away there Jerry Garcia.”
DB: “I’d like to wish the group good luck as we embark on this next piece.” “Here Come the Wolves” opens with a deep riff and tribal drums and Martin says, “Speaking of leather pants…” To which DB concedes, “This is definitely our most Tea Party song for sure.” This is an unusual song and I love that it’s got heavy parts and I look forward to the recorded official version.

I like the way it is loud and heavy and then there’s a quiet martin bit

Northern Wish starts out rather quietly, but it sounds great. It segues into Clark singing “Johnny Had a Secret” acapella.

DB says, “We’re gonna take you home. We’re gonna stop 3 places along the way. The first is a slow and moody “Stolen Car.” The second is a bonkers “Legal Age Life” with the guys barking at each other and DB just rolling his r’s for a good ten seconds. Clark: “Let’s dedicate that one to Monty Hall.”

While the next song starts, Dave asks, “Martin do you ever have lapel neurosis?” Martin: Oh, you have lapel bulge—it has no crease.”

DB: Anyone been to California? Martin: We’re heading down to do our next album in California

Martin tells a long story about Compass Point in the tropics where they recorded their last album together. He talks about an old roll of film—you tried to make them count but inevitably there are fuckups. He’s been photographing his old slides with a macro lens. He found a picture of them swimming at night snorkeling. The place made Martin weep. Dave and Dave stayed in Tina Weymouth’s place. And yet, in front of the apartments is a pool! The Caribbean Ocean is right there. It’s luxury overkill.

This leads to a discussion of magenta. Does anybody like magenta? It has to be there but we hate it. If you’re ready to wear a magenta power suit I would have to bow to you. Ryan was just changing the lights to magenta–a lighting joke.

“Digital Beach” starts slow, but “Dreamline” takes off. Martin has a lot of fun with it and it eventually merges into a lovely acoustic “Claire

As the song fades out Dave starts singing Big Bottom and the band doesn’t change the music at all, but Tim sings along with him.

After an encore Clark comes out for a drum solo which leads to a stripped down sounding (but great vocal mix) of “Soul Glue.” Tim sounds great and the backing vocals are spot on. The end of the song blends nicely with “Song of Flight.” The final three minutes are a rollicking crazy sloppy fun lunatic version of “RDA.”

Tim observes, “That was show stopper if I ever heard one.”

[READ: December 1, 2015] “Oktober”

I like Martin Amis a lot. Although I have to say that this story confused me. Now, it’s true that Amis can be a trickster when he writes, but this story wasn’t fancy at all, it was just…unsatisfying. And really long.

Told in first person, the story begins with “I” drinking black tea in a hotel in Munich. It was the time of Oktoberfest.

Next to him is a businessman, Geoffrey, on his mobile phone. The man is aggressive and seems angry, speaking about clause 4C and saying things like “I’m accustomed to dealing with people who have some idea of what they’re up to.”

The photographer shows up to take a picture of the narrator. They talk about Germans and refugees until it’s time to go. He looks at his phone. Of the 1800 messages none are from his wife or children. (more…)

I don’t know Anthony Hamilton, probably because he is a soul singer and I don’t listen to soul music. He’s won Grammy’s and everything! He and this band The Hamiltones (nice) had just played for the Obamas, and they came to the NPR offices afterward.

The first song, “Amen,” is new and he says was his attempt to write an R. Kelly song. The other three songs are apparently the ones that have made him famous. The songs are “Best of Me,” “Cool” and “Charlene.”

I love his American Flag jacket/sweater or whatever it is. And his voice and the voices of The Hamiltones are pretty sweet. No doubt if I listened to soul music, I’d have a lot of Hamilton’s discs.

[READ: January 26, 2016] “Family Business”

This essay was an interesting mash-up of two writers that I’d like to read more of. I am a fan of Nabokov’s although I have read but a smattering of his work. And I have enjoyed what I’ve read by Lipsky, although I have yet to delve into his fiction.

This is a book review of the recent publication of Vladimir Nabokov’s letters to his wife Vera throughout the length of their mostly happy fifty-two year marriage. Sadly, Vera’s letters were destroyed (by her), although as it turns out, she didn’t write very much back to him anyway.

This is the kind of book review that I find exceedingly enjoyable. It sums up what the book has to say and then lets me know that while I might enjoy reading it, I don’t actually have to. Not that he gives away spoilers–are their spoilers if you know what their life is like already? But he really gets the gist of the letters and their life. And frankly, I don’t need to be that intimate with the writer, even if I do enjoy his works. (more…)

This third night in BC was at the Cowichan Theatre. This night was held as a benefit for the Women’s Coalition Institute’s campaign against GM food. Luke Doucet’s band Veal opened, there were families and young kids in the crowd and Dave even talks about buying some art that was for sale.

Amazingly, the band plays nine songs that they hadn’t played the two previous nights. The only bad thing about this show is that 6 songs are missing from the posted recording (including a night-ending “Shaved Head.”) But the set still clocks in at an hour and fifteen minutes.

I found the audio a bit muffled on this recording. In fact, for the first few songs I thought Martin was hard to hear. Especially on “Stolen Car.” But he seems to get louder as the show goes on.

There’s a joke about Martin’s shirt–(like he took Greg Keelor’s shirt (Keelor was in Blue Rodeo). Martin admires his “cowboy look” and jokes about big city folks. There’s also a funny bit later about the Beatles where he seems to forget George Harrison’s name and says he was going to call him “Gino.”

Martin was still experimenting with the slower opening of “Northern Wish” here, which sounds cool. “Claire” sounds great (it’s the first time they played it in the three nights) although I wish the quality were a little better. There’ s great noisy solo inserted into it as well. And “Self Serve Gas Station” totally rocks.

It’s a shame that “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” was cut off, along with the end oft he set but it s a good sampler of some different songs.

[READ: March 5, 2015] “The Man Stopped”

The introduction to this story says that it may be the last complete unpublished short story by Nabokov. It was written in 1926 and is believed to be a parody of the then current crop of Soviet writers who wrote in an ornamental pseudo folky style. The story is full of “rustic idiom” which has been translated to very rough English idiom by Gennady Barabtarlo.

Given that Barabtarlo describes the story as a parody I expected it to be funny, but to my ear it isn’t.

Indeed, it’s a very simple story of a man on a journey who is constantly set upon (verbally) by the locals. (more…)

I didn’t realize that this wasn’t Fun.’s debut album. I hadn’t heard of them until, well, until they got pretty big. Sarah got this for me for Christmas in 2012 on the recommendation of an NPR list. Of course, my biggest surprise was playing it Christmas morning and hearing the word fuck twice in the first song. Merry Christmas, kids!

I read recently that the band really liked Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy so much that they hired the same producer to get that sound. And that makes a ton of sense on the style and final product here–big grandiose sounds that are layered and layered and dense. The difference of course is that Fun. writes more catchy/poppy songs with a pop rock sheen. And the Queen comparisons are unavoidable. But with auto-tune.

“Some Nights (intro)” opens the disc with a quiet piano intro that builds to what you’re really going to get here–dramatic, theatrical, anthemic over the top pop rock. Because after a minute when the backing vocals come in, it sounds pretty much like an updated modern day Queen. While lead singer does bellow like Freddy Mercury the Queenisms come more from the backing vocals and the orchestrations.

The first song proper, “Some Nights” has a more polished, more poppy sheen to it. And like the rest of the album, it has a huge sing along chorus with whoa hos and everything. It’s nearly inevitable that they would become huge because of this album.

And yet, despite all the pop, I like this record a lot. The artsy, theatricality is so over the top. And really each song is like a mini showstopper. “We Are Young” has the title of an anthem and thus the song is an anthem. It starts with just drums but after some clever lyrics, it shifts to a slow building chorus that the world can sing along to. The same is true for “Carry On,” a slow piano ballad that builds in a big anthemic chorus. “It Gets Better” is a bit more electronic and fast paced from the start. “Why Am I the One” slows things down again, this time with guitars. But again each one has a big sing-along chorus.

“All Alone” is a bit more electronic (with harpsichords!) and a little more drum heavy, while “All Alright” stays anthemic throughout.

What’s surprising really is the lyrical content–he sings a lot about loving his parents (there’s a few shout outs to his mom). I admit I don’t entirely know what’s happening on the album–I haven’t looked at the lyrics too carefully, but it seems far more introspective and personal than big anthemic pop hooks would suggest.

“One Foot” is the first song that diverges a bit from the formula–it’s still a big stomping song, but the way the main riff is played on orchestral hits rather than more conventional instruments points to the more Top 40 elements of the band. And the final song, “Stars” really tips the balance. This is the one song that I don’t really care for. It’s 7 minutes long and the melody is more pop than artsy. The song builds in a less dramatic and more poppy way. This song has the most mom intensive lyrics: “Most nights I stay straight and think about my mom–oh god I miss her so much.” By 2 minutes it devolves into an auto-tuned ballad where the Kanye influence really rears its head. For the last 3 minutes or so it is a string filled ballad with crazy auto-tuned vocals (especially when they harmonize!). It’s a bit much even for me, although I think it works pretty great as an album ender.

The strange thing about that is that there is one song after it. It turns out that it’s a bonus track, which i didn’t realize until recently. I couldn’t imagine why you’d put a song after that autotuned nonsense. So it makes sense as a bonus track, although after “Stars,” I’m done with the album. The song, “Out on the Town” brings back the guitars but the “oh oh oh oh” in the beginning is really boy band like. And I fear the whole set up is more commercial than theater. So, no real bonus for me.

Basically, the album sounds quite the same throughout (in that it is big and theatrical, although there are some differences that distinguish the songs enough). And if you don’t like one of the songs there’s not going to be much here for you. But if you like your theatricality over the top, you could do worse than Fun. Just get ready to sing along.

[READ: October 1, 2014] The Original of Laura

I have had Nabokov on my list of authors to read for a long time. I have read and enjoyed a few of his books and planned to read his oeuvre at some point, just not quite yet. And then, as serendipity would have it, I stumbled on a book of his novellas (the Penguin classic edition) and decided to read them. Because they aren’t really meant to be taken as one item, I’m going to mention them individually.

The Original of Laura is a controversial release because of its history. And it seems that more words have been written about the history of the book than the actual content of it. So I will summarize the history by saying that Vladimir said that if he didn’t finish the book that it should be destroyed. Vladimir’s wife did not destroy the book and some thirty years later his son Dmitri decided to publish it [cue cat fights and gnashing of teeth].

The interesting way the book was published was as a series of index cards. Nabokov wrote all of his stories on index cards. The book version is on heavy card stock in which all of the index cards were reproduced and the words were typed below (errors and cross outs and all). And all the pages are perforated for, in theory, the reader’s ability to mix and match the pages as apparently Nabokov did.

This seems like a cool idea except that most of the index cards are numbered, so it’s not like there is any doubt as to what order they should go in. The final cards are not numbered, but again, they are pretty much sequential–there’s not a lot of play at play here. (more…)

I first heard this album streaming on NPR. I really enjoyed it and was surprised by how diverse and yet still kinda 1970s hippie-feeling it was.

I didn’t know anything about the music of Os Mutantes before hearing this disc. In a nutshell (and the details seem pretty complicated), they released 6 albums from 1968-1974 and then broke up. They reunited in 2009 and this is their second album after reuniting.

I don’t know what any of them did during the intervening years, but it is clear that the psychedelic vibe they explored the first time around never fully left them. Because even though there are rocking numbers, there are plenty of groovy organs and songs about love on the disc. And yet the first songs I heard from the album were really quite rocking, so I was surprised by the mellow vibe as the album progresses.

There’s precious little information about the record on the record jacket, but I do know that Sérgio Dias wrote all the music and is the lead singer. The disc opens with a kind of introductory song, “The Dream is Gone.” It has a slow opening with cool bass lines and Dias’ voice which is soft and kind of worn sounding. There are some cool electronic effects sprinkled around and big harmonies. This leads to the second song, the stomping anti-war track, “Fool Metal Jack” (which I talked about here). It’s got a big fat bass and menacing riff (as befits a war song). The song is graphic and ugly (with a loud cough in the midst of a verse). It’s followed by the big old sloppy sounding rocker “Picadilly Willie” with big 70s sounding vocals (I’ve mentioned before that it sounds like Frank Zappa song to me, and it still does). These two songs are so loud and noisy they really belie the psychedelic vibe that the rest of the disc presents.

“Gangjaman” has a reggae feel (with a big round bass) and fun backing vocals. While “Lookout” has a kind of Santana live at Woodstock vibe–a slinky rocking guitar and big chords. There’s also some traditional (I assume) Brazilian native singers. “Eu Descobri” is sung by a female vocalist (in Portuguese I assume) it is a pretty, slinky song with flutes and a cello and echoed vocals. It hearkens back to the late 60s but still sounds contemporary.

“Time and Space” has more big bass (the bass really sounds great on this disc), but this one is a slow acoustic umber with excellent harmonies. I love the layered vocals that reminds me of good prog. “To Make It Beautiful” is an absolute hippie track with lyrics like: “I need to create love with you my love.” It has his great falsetto and buzzy guitars. It is so far away from the early rockers and yet to me the album doesn’t feel disjointed. “Once Upon a Flight” is a synthy/guitar rocker, but in a very 70s style. It’s also got a big cello solo at the end. “Into Limbo” is a jangly slow guitar song with Dias’ voice sounding great.

“Bangladesh” has a long acoustic guitar intro with a very middle eastern feel. By the middle it turns into a kind of prayer with a repeated chorus of: “Hare Jesus Hare Buddha Hare Judas Hare Rama Hare Krishna Hare Lucifer.” The final song “Valse LSD” is a complex acoustic song with male and female vocals. It’s quite pretty. It doesn’t really feel like the end of the disc (I would have ended with “Bangladesh”), but it’s a good summary of the album as a whole.

Since I am unfamiliar with Os Mutantes’ earlier work, I can’t really say how this fits into their discography, but I think this is just a great album and I’m looking forward to hearing more of their earlier works.

[READ: October 2, 2014] The Enchanter

I have had Nabokov on my list of authors to read for a long time. I have read and enjoyed a few of his books and planned to read his oeuvre at some point, just not quite yet. And then, as serendipity would have it, I stumbled on a book of his novellas (the Penguin classic edition) and decided to read them. Because they aren’t really meant to be taken as one item, I’m going to mention them individually.

The Enchanter was Nabokov’s final work written in Russian. It was never published during his lifetime. The Notes to the story in the book suggests that Nabokov had a vague recollection of the story (with many details incorrect), but that he believed he discarded the original version when he moved to America. He evidently found it after publishing Lolita, but did not feel compelled to publish it. It was his son who translated and published it after his death.

The Enchanter is something of a precursor to Lolita in that it involves a man who is obsessed with adolescent girls. What separates this from Lolita (although there are many similar plot contrivances) is the mental state of the protagonist. He is disgusted by himself. He knows what he does is wrong, he even imagines himself in animalistic ways. And yet he cannot help himself. (This is not to say that that is not present in Lolita, just that it is more or less the focus here). (more…)

I have been so pleased with the reunited Dinosaur Jr. I’ve enjoyed each of their albums, and feel like they really have hit a great stride of songwriting. The only difference to me is that these songs are all pretty long, something I don’t really think of as a Dino Jr thing. They do often have a few longer songs, but on this disc, 5 songs are over 5 minutes and two are nearly 5 minutes long.

As with the last album, I’m not sure why Lou Barlow agreed to reuniting. Barlow is a great songwriter and has successful other projects. He gets two (short) songs that he write and sings and that’s kind of it. I mean, they sound great and really flesh out the album, but it seems like a weird thing for him to do unless he just likes playing the old Dino stuff again.

And then of course there’s Mascis. It’s amazing how much of a slacker J Mascis sings like and yet what a careful and meticulous guitar player and songwriter he is. And yes, it’s great to have Murph on drums, too.

“Don’t Pretend You Didn’t Know” opens just like a great Dino Jr song—that guitar is unmistakable. It’s a fast rocker. With a big old Dino chorus. There’s a lengthy outro solo that really stretches out the song into a jam. “Watch the Corners” is the other kind of Dino song, a chugger with big slow open chords and a nice riff. (and again a wonderful chorus). “Almost Fare” is the other, other kind of Dino song, poppy with a kind of cute riff and a slow drawl in the vocals. And “Stick a Toe In” is a slower ballad–the fourth kind of song that Masics writes so well. It has a nice chorus (with piano (!)) and some dramatic steps in the chorus. Suffice it to say that although they all sounds like Dino Jr., it’s impressive how many styles of song Mascis writes so well.

Barlow’s first song is “Rude,” a short fast punk rocker. At just under 3 minutes (with no solo) the song pounds along with a very funny chorus: “I wish I didn’t care cause caring is rude.” Even though it changes the flow of the album, it just adds to the diversity that is Dino Jr. In “I Know It Oh So Well” Mascis’ ringing guitar comes back It’s a simple song with just a few chords and a simple interstitial riff, but he makes it sound very full.

“Pierce the Morning Rain” is the only short Mascis song on the disc (and perversely it gives the album its title). It has a very heavy metal guitar riff and a super fast paced (and sung) tempo. “What Was That” is a slow burner with many elements of classic Dino—a great solo in the background of the song and a cool riff along with Mascis’s patented delivery. “Recognition” is Barlow’s other song. It almost makes 4 minutes. It sounds more like part of the record (and, strangely, also like the popular Sebadoh tracks). You can really hear Barlow’s vocal style shine through and it’s a great counterpoint to all the Mascis on the disc. It’s also great song—kind of slow and angular but with a cool fast riff in the bridge. It also features a pretty wild (and un-Masics-like) guitar solo

“See It on Your Side” is the last song and at nearly 7 minutes, it feels a little long. Although that may be because the song seems to end and then starts again. And yet, that end solo is pretty great. It’s a very notable Mascis type riff that starts the song. Even with all of the long songs, the disc still clocks in at around 45 minutes, which is really a perfect amount of Dinosaur Jr. consumption. Looking forward to the next release.

[READ: October 1, 2014] The Eye

I have had Nabokov on my list of authors to read for a long time. I have read and enjoyed a few of his books and planned to read his oeuvre at some point, just not quite yet. And then, as serendipity would have it, I stumbled on a book of his novellas (the Penguin classic edition) and decided to read them. Because they aren’t really meant to be taken as one item, I’m going to mention them individually.

The book includes a Foreword by Vladimir (his son Dmitri translated this with help from Vladimir) that talks a bit about when he wrote it and how he didn’t bother to include details about the location because it wasn’t important to the story (it’s a surprisingly casual foreword).

“The Eye” is a strange story (technically a novella or a very short novel) in which a man, despondent at the beating he receives, tries to kill himself and then believes that he does.

The narrator has been having an affair with a married woman named Matilda. He’s been a little bored with her lately, and is pretty much over her. But one night when the narrator is working as the house tutor for two boys (the boys are completely disrespectful to him and every scene with them is very funny), the cuckolded husband comes over and really beats him up. Just really lays into him (the narrator’s protestations about this not even being his house are rather amusing). I especially liked that the husband calls first and doesn’t tell him who he is “So much the better–it’ll be a surprise.” (more…)